By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
A $1.5 million grant will help Second Harvest Community Food Bank expand its services in St. Joseph and its 19-county service region.
Second Harvest CEO Chad Higdon says he's excited to see the buy in from the state to the services they are providing at the food bank.
"We know there's a lot more work to do but this really is going to further our mission, especially with the volume of produce that we've distributed in the last several years," Higdon tells reporters. "It's really kind of changed our distribution methods and really this is going to help support our future vision for the food bank."
Higdon says currently his staff is still reviewing how best to use the remaining funds from the grant and that there is no timeline on when this project could begin.
Second Harvest will use the funds to expand its cold storage unit to be able to store more fruits, vegetables, and proteins.
CEO Chad Higdon says the way Feeding America distributes fruits and vegetables has changed quite a bit from the way it was when he started
"What's happened since then is Feeding America started these produce mixing centers, and it's really allowed us working with food banks in Minneapolis and Indianapolis to source mixed truckloads of produce," Higdon explains. "And so, it's really changed the nature of the type of foods we distribute."
"So. this expansion's really going to help us better facilitate and keep the food fresher longer."
Higdon says funds will also be used to add an expanded loading dock area to provide faster loading times and also a safer work environment moving loading away from the workspace area.
Second Harvest serves a 19-county region throughout northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas.
CEO Chad Higdon says that since the pandemic the food need has not tapered off much.
"Our shelves, the food that we actually have to get out isn't going as far, we've had to reduce some distributions, and really that transition to produce helps because it is more affordable for us to source larger volumes of product and it helps us reach more families," Higdon says. "And so that's kind of the direction we're headed and really justifies a lot of this project."